"As a reader of
Forbidden Archeology, I wanted to say after
pages of discussion of evidence on both sides of the
Calaveras skull controversy, authors Michael Cremo and
Richard Thompson stated: 'Can it really be said with certainty
that the Calaveras skull was either genuine or a hoax?'"

The answer is clearly "yes" according to the data presented
by Taylor et al. (1992) and Dexter (1986) concerning the
Calaveras skull, which includes a radiocarbon date of 1,000 B.P.
from bones found with it. Boutwell (1911, pp. 55-54) interviewed
people associated with the finding of the Calaveras skull and
discovered that this skull was locally regarded as a hoax.
One of the principal participants in the discovery of the skull
even admitted that it was a hoax to him.

Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson further stated:

"The evidence is so contradictory and confusing that although
the skull could have come from an Indian burial cave we
might regard with suspicion anyone who comes forward with
any kind of definite conclusion."

Forbidden Archaeology forgets that significantly confusing
and contradictory evidence is characteristic of hoaxes when a group of
people manufacture testimony and evidence to support their hoax, while
another group continues to find flaws in the story and contradictions in
the fabricated evidence. It significant that Forbidden
Archaeology makes no attempts to rebut the arguments of Taylor et
al. (1992), Dexter (1986), Sinclair (1908), and the radiocarbon date,
but simply ignores them without any given reason. All this book can do
is issue a blanket accusation that anybody who comes to a conclusion is
"suspicious" as if they are probably the members of some sinister
conspiracy to subvert science.

The reluctance of Forbidden Archaeology to admit
that the Calaveras skull was a hoax is clearly understandable.
The presence of such a hoax involving "Tertiary archaeology"
indicates that such hoaxes and practical jokes were being played
upon geologists and their fellow miners by other miners
within the gold fields of Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties.
The prevalence of traditional mining-camp jokes is well
illustrated by organization of miners such as the Ancient
and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (Jackson
1941:351-352; Rather 1980:267-277).